VILLA D'ESTE 2014
Being part of the distinguished Jury of the 2014 Concorso d'Eleganza 'Villa d'Este' is, as always, a great honor
Our 409 was parked in a reserved part of the Villa d'Este hotel garage, flanked by (loosely) related Bavarian jewels....
The Pasinis customary light lunch upon arrival in Villa d'Este, on Friday: a delicious Club Sandwich. Anna does not look unhappy
The rear part of this 1937 Bugatti 57 bear a striking resemblance to the rear compartment of my 1953 Bristol 403
A MOST distinguished Jury.....left to right, standing:
Goodfellow, Pasini, Kodama, Lagaaij, March
sitting:
Le Quément, Ramaciotti, Orsi, Cameron
Three judges being elegant and just pretending to work hard
Thanks to Jack Riddel's photographic artistry, we have another picture of this group of Judges (l. to r. Pasini, Le Quément, Roth) exhamining the intriguing BMW 328 designed by Baron von Koenig-Fachsenfeld on a patent by Paul Jaray. Its Wendler coachwork was admittedly not as elegant as the Bugatti 57 parked on its right, but it was well ahead of its time and won my appreciation. My Bristol 403 is, in many ways, the granddaughter of that striking 1937 Stromlinienfahrzeug BMW. And I was extremely happy to know that Patrick Le Quément, former Director of Rénault design and car connoisseur extraordinaire, shared my views about this car
Abarth 2000 Scorpion. An extraordinary piece of machinery brought in Villa d'Este by esteemed Japanese collector of Abarth wunderwagen, Mr. Shiro Kosaka. I admire his style
Dr Marco Makaus, organizer of the 2013 and 2014 Mille Miglia, charms an elegant lady with his snappy, Salon Privé-style attire
In Villa d'Este, passion begins at a very young age. A beautiful, blonde, (very) young lady clearly has already some ideas about the meaning of that peculiar Prancing Horse on his dad's Ferrari....
Villa d'Este during the Concorso just brings a smile at your face
Great Italian motoring writer/journalist/ ANE editor Luca Ciferri and the President of the Jury, Lorenzo Ramaciotti
Verena and Dominik Fischlin, in tune with the 'Great Gatsby' soirée
The energetic Dr. Ulrich Knieps, since 1st March 2013 head of BMW Group Classic (he already headed the company’s competence centre for BMW Group and brand history in addition to the central department for Product, Technology and Sports Communications) delivers the Villa d'Este Trophy to Corrado and Elena Lo Presto. They won the 3 'public' referendums at Villa d'Este, consequently, they had some trouble stuffing so many huge cups in their very sporty 1938 Alfa Romeo 1750 GS Aprile
I fail to see how could some people try to diminish the importance and the sheer beauty of this Revelli de Beaumont-designed Alfa Romeo. I suspect that anyone speaking against it must have some strong personal motivations. The people liked it immensely both in Villa d'Este and Villa Erba
Lorenzo with Ilaria and Anna at Villa Erba
Villa Erba during the 'Great Gatsby' soirée
Peter N. Heydon, as nice and funny as ever, parading his Duesenberg with Verena Fischlin
The marvelous Maserati 'Alfieri', designed by Lorenzo Ramaciotti, will be put in production and was shown publicly in Villa Erba. It got a noisy standing ovation from the assembled and very knowledgeable public.....
The Alfieri is pure beauty, it could be born only in Italy. Lorenzo Ramaciotti is a Master
Appropriately, the Sunday evening Gala dinner is a black-tie event
Sunday evening and everybody is waiting to hear what the winning car will be...and it will this one:
Albert and Rita Spiess' Maserati 450S, 2014 Best of Show. Congratulations!
Monday morning, the 409 ready to be loaded with luggage (lots of it, and the huge trunk is one of the reasons why Anna and I love so much our 409) for the return trip to Bologna. But, before hitting the road.....
....you MUST have a Cotoletta Milanese at 'La Veranda', Grand Hotel Villa d'Este's celebrated restaurant. Impeccable service and extraordinary surroundings are the perfect complement to this classic of the milanese/Lombardia couisine, the perfect way to say au revoire to one of our favorite hotels in the world
Starting....
...and coming back
An interesting fact about the Villa d'Este Concorso is that we always manage to get drenched by a severe thunderstorm during our way to or from Cernobbio..... luckily this time we got it coming back. As our Bristol does not show any water leak in the cabin, even in the most appalling weather, we did simply press on regardless
Tuesday I did wash the Bristol, cleaned it thoroughly and then put her back to sleep under her cover in a protected garage. She did a great job bringing Anna and me to and from Villa d'Este in great style. Waiting for the next trip to another stylish classic-cars event....
*alcune di queste belle immagini sono state scattate dal fotografo di BMW Italia (Alberto Novelli), cui va il mio ringraziamento. Altre sono state scattate durante il fine settimana del Concorso d'Eleganza di Villa d'Este da Anna e Jack Riddell. In pratica, io non ne ho fatta nessuna a parte la prima..:-)))
